The South America Chronicles - Seis

This report comes from a slightly hungover Sam in La Paz. We arrive here yesterday afternoon and one of my first priorities was to make a visit to a hostal-cum-microbrewery - Adventure Brew Hostal. We had already booked to stay somewhere else in La Paz, but I wasn´t going to pass up the opportunity of tasting some (possibly) good beers. And it didn´t disappoint....hence the hangover. They had 3 different beers - a German Kolsch, an English Ale, and a dark bock. The first two were particularly good, so quite a few were imbibed.

We then took a dinner recommendation from the Scottish guy behind the bar - an Argentinean steak house downtown. The taxi ride down there was an event in itself, travelling through rush hour and the throng of the city, with masses of old (American school bus style) Dodge buses in the traffic. We hadn´t seen the hustle and bustle of a real city since we left London. But this seems a good hustle and bustle, lots of people promenading along the wide avenue that goes through the middle of the city. La Paz certainly seems like a cool city, though bizarrely located. It sits in a huge gorge, with steep slopes climbing on either side of the centre of the city. Arriving, looking down at the city below, you can´t help not ask "why the hell did someone decide to place a city here?" It feels like it is one giant arena, with houses stretching up the gorge on either side. A fascinating place.

And the dinner didn´t disappoint either. For 270 Bolivianos (about 20 quid - I know, we splashed out), Anna and I each had a huge cut of absolutely delicious steak (they must have been around 400g each), an excellent 2004 Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, and all the trimmings (chips, beans, salsa, a huge salad bar). This has certainly set our appetite for Argentina.

After our protein fix, Anna demonstrated her Spanish skills but bargaining UP our return taxi ride from 8 Bolivianos to 10! We then headed back to the microbrewery bar for a couple more drinks, and hence the headache this morning.

This is all after a couple days spent at Copacabana on Lake Titicaca. This was certainly a different place to where we have been before - I likened it to the Riveria of Bolivia. When we arrived on the Sunday, the lakefront was packed with locals who must go there for their day out. Lining the lakefront are many kiosks selling fresh trout, which must go down as some of the best fish we have ever had (Lee - you were right). We also stayed at a little hotel on the corner of the bay, which had great views (Daz/Jess - thanks for the tip). Copacabana had a really bohemian feel to it - and strangely, many European travellers and very few English-speaking tourists. There isn´t a whole lot to do in Copacabana, and we just had a relaxing two days, reading, drinking, and eating a lot of trout. On the second day we did take the boat out to the Isla del Sol - by folklore, the birthplace of the Incas. There wasn´t a lot to see there, but it was a pleasant walk along the ridge of the island, getting the boat back in the afternoon.

I don´t think I would say that Copacabana is a must see on any South America itinerary, but it was a relaxing place to stop off for a couple of days. So relaxing, that it wasn´t until we were just about to leave that we realised we weren´t even on Bolivian time! We were in an internet cafe when we noticed that both the time on the computer and the clock on the wall were an hour fast. And then we realised that they weren´t an hour fast at all, but that Bolivian time must be an hour ahead of Peruvian time - and then it all clicked. It explained why the previous morning our hotel owner told us we had to run for the boat to the Isla del Sol, and that when she was saying "no ocho", she didn´t mean that the boat didn´t leave at 8, but that it wasn´t 8 o´clock. And that when we thought it odd that we had to rush to our boat as it left the Isla del Sol an hour early, that it wasn´t leaving early at all. And when we were in our restaurant that night, that the live music didn´t start an hour early, but was on time as advertised. The fact that we survived with having the wrong time for the two days gives you some idea of how laid back Copocabana is. Though we still felt very stupid, and we were fortunate that we noticed at all that morning, as we would have missed our bus to La Paz.

So now we are in La Paz organising our next few days in Bolivia. Tomorrow we will be biking down the world´s most dangerous road, and then we have a couple of days relaxing down in the Yungas, enjoying a bitof warmth. We are then hoping to do a 3-day boat trip through the jungle up to Rurrenbaque, where we will do an Amazon tour. So lots of adventures over the next week or so - Anna is worried about riding off the edge of the cliff, and I am wanting to avoid the infamous `penis fish`. So I won´t be peeing into any waters....